As crews gained control of a fire that had started at the Santa Clara River bottom in Ventura County on Monday evening, another, larger brush fire broke out along the river, near a hamlet some 17 miles east.
According to Ventura County Fire, the newly called Howe Fire was around 40 acres in size as of 7 p.m. and was blazing in mountainous terrain south of Piru. The fire crew observed high-tension electrical wires in the neighborhood and requested a second alarm response.
“A total of 140 firefighters are on scene or en route,” VCFD wrote in an X post. Video from the scene shows an air tanker dropping fire retardant on the flames, which appeared to be burning in dry brush within the hills.
As of 9:30 p.m., no structures seemed to be under threat from the Howe Fire, and personnel were making steady progress toward containment.
Just hours before the Howe Fire broke out, the VCFD reacted to the Maria Fire, a brush fire that was burning in the river bottom south of Santa Paula, fueled by onshore winds. This fire triggered an evacuation alert for South Mountain Road, from the 12th Street Bridge east to the golf course. The alert has already been withdrawn.
Views of the fire from Alert California cameras aimed at the Maria Fire showed a cloud of smoke growing from roughly 3 p.m. to about 5 p.m. The cameras then rotated around to show a larger, darker column of smoke rising from the Howe Fire around 6 p.m.
According to the VCFD, the Maria Fire was declared controlled just before 7 p.m. and covered approximately 15 acres. However, in a 9:30 p.m. update, the fire department reported that the Maria Fire was 60 acres and only 50% contained.
